Around the State

• The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor winter commencement will be held Dec. 11 at 1 p.m. at the Mayborn Campus Center. The university anticipates 182 students will receive baccalaureate degrees, and 25 will receive master’s degrees.

• Riders of the Son, the Waco chapter of the Christian Motorcyclist Association, recently visited 13 churches to collect gifts that will be resold at Mission Waco’s Christmas toy store, which allows families to buy the toys at 20 percent of their retail value. Ten vehicles carrying the donated toys followed 58 motorcyclists through the toy run. The ride ended at the Church Under the Bridge, where volunteers unloaded thousands and piled them high in front of the stage to cap the worship service there. Last year, more than 1,800 families were supplied with toys; this year’s goal is 2,000. Waco-area Baptist churches participating in the event included Calvary Church, Meadowbrook Church, Harris Creek Church, Beacon Hills Church, Speegleville Church and Church Under the Bridge.

• Baptist Child & Family Services provided Thanksgiving dinner for more than 200 young adults who have aged out of the state foster care system. The event, held at Trinity Church in San Antonio, gives youth a place to celebrate the holiday and spend time with their peers and mentors. BCFS transitional living services provides services such as health care, housing, job training, education and financial support to foster youth between the ages of 16 and 21 to prepare them for life on their own.

• The Collegian, Houston Baptist University’s student newspaper, has received an All-American rating from the Associated Collegiate Press for the 2008-2009 academic year. The newspaper earned marks with distinction in five categories—coverage and content; writing and editing; photos, art and graphics; layout and design; and leadership.

• Baylor Law School presented juris doctor degrees to 12 graduates during ceremonies last month. Baylor University law professor Jeremy Counseller was the keynote speaker, and Philip Haines, the highest-ranking student in the commencement class, also spoke.

• Dearing Garner, executive director of Children’s Emergency Relief International, participated in a panel addressing international health and human services at the University of Houston’s Graduate College of Social Work. CERI is the overseas arm of Baptist Child & Family Services. Garner spoke about the roles psychosocial work, foster care, child protection, and orphan and transitional care play in CERI’s overseas ministry.

• The Howard Payne University moot court team of Cara Brewer and Lauren Teel took second place at the Texas Undergraduate Moot Court Association southwest regional championship. The competition took place at Texas Tech University with 32 teams participating. Robert Davis and Jon Beaubien advanced to the quarterfinals. As a result of their success, both teams received bids for the national tournament to be held in Miami, Fla., next month. Five HPU students, more than any other school, also placed among the top 10 orators in the individual competition.

Anniversaries

• Marvin Miles, 10th, as pastor of First Church in Smiley and 40th in the ministry, Nov. 8.

• Alan Reed, fifth, as associate pastor at Yorktown Church in Corpus Christi, Dec. 1.

• Jack Hutson, 30th, as pastor of Vanderbilt Church in Vanderbilt, Dec. 13. Tommy Billings, director of missions for Guadalupe Association, will present a plaque from the association and a certificate from the Baptist General Convention of Texas at a reception from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

• Ramiro Castillo, 15th, as pastor of Southern Oaks Church in Bryan.

Retiring

• James Teel, as pastor of Oplin Church in Clyde, Dec. 31. He has served the church five years. Other churches where he ministered include New Hope Church in Stamford, West Fork Church in Azle, Pleasant Valley Church in Olney, Primera Iglesia in Hamlin and Harmony Church in Eastland. He also served as a missionary 27 years in Ecuador, Argentina, the Dominican Republic and Canada. He also worked at Hardin-Simmons University on two occassions and worked for the Stewardship Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Deaths

• Merle Harrell, 85, Nov. 20 in Dallas. She was minister to preschool children at Park Cities Church in Dallas from 1973 to 1976, First Church in Jackson, Miss., from 1976 to 1978, and Wilshire Church in Dallas from 1978 to 1994. She frequently taught and trained Sunday school leadership throughout Texas and surrounding states. She was preceded in death by her husband, D.K. She is survived by her sons, Kirk and Kent; and three grandchildren.

• Pinky Gray, 83, Nov. 22 in Fort Worth. After graduation from Howard Payne College in 1948, she went to Buckner Ophans’ Home to teach at the campus school. After a number of years, she returned to Howard Payne as associate dean of women and a year later became dean of women. While there, she met her husband, Bill, and left the school to become the wife of a pastor. They served at First Church in Tomball and then First Church in Willis before joining the Foreign Mission Board as missionaries to Mexico. After 23 years in Mexico, they returned to Texas so he could begin the Baptist General Convention of Texas Partnership Missions office. She soon worked in the counseling department of the Southern Baptist Radio & Television Commission, where she did all the Spanish counseling for 10 years. She also accompanied her husband on overseas trips and encouraged the women and churches in those countries. She is survived by her husband of 56 years; son, Brad; daughter, Anna Gray; sister Edith Martin; and one grandson.

• Harry Garvin, 71, Nov. 25 in Cisco. A graduate of Howard Payne College and Southwestern Seminary, he was ordained to the ministry in 1957. He and his wife, Doris, served 25 years in Uganda and another year in Kenya as missionaries with the Foreign Mission Board. The past six years, he has been pastor of Lake Leon Church in Eastland. He was preceded in death by his brother, Carroll; and two grandchildren, Elizabeth Garvin and Isaiah Murray. He is survived by his wife of 53 years; sons, Harry Jr. and Kenneth; daughters, Tamara Burkman, Deborah Hinely, Rebecca Murray and Angie Wetherholt; brothers, Fred, Tommy, Leon and Rex; sisters, Robbie Cason, Rose Krupa and Rebecca Garvin; 11 grandchildren; and one great-grandson.